This probably won't help me in my current job search, but is it worth learning COBOL? I've heard that there are still a bunch of critical systems out there that use it, and that it's hard to find COBOL devs these days.
Is this still the case? The only downside I can see is that I'd have to program in COBOL.
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Dear job posting,
If you expect me to install spyware so that you can micromanage me while I work, at least have the decency not to expect me to supply the hardware.
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Went to pick up a prescription and the guy ahead of me in line was chewing the pharmacist out about the automated system, which admittedly sucks but is certainly a decision made by corporate, not her.
He repeatedly threatened to take his business elsewhere. Were I in her position, the response I'd have wanted to give was "please do".
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Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
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Sooo... I have a flatpak version of LibreOffice, and for whatever reason (probably sandboxing) the spellchecker can't see the text of my document.
I may or may not have sent off a bunch of resumes that said that I "wrote technical documentaiton" in a previous job.
That's just super.
There's a job I really want a decent shot at. Thank God I caught it before submitting to that one.
Edit: I typo'd my typo. 🙃
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Back in the 1990s I worked at a very large government facility on an RFP for getting an ISP. The winning bidder had in the footer of every page "Bid for Interenet Service Provider." Nobody but me noticed.
Of course, the Interenet was so new in the 1990s that maybe they thought that's how it's spelled...
Jonathan Lamothe reshared this.
I had a bit of a hard time getting into this one, but once it got going it was worth it. That said, I think I'm going to step back from the horror genre for a bit. I'll probably return to it when life settles a bit.
(comment on HEX)
Jonathan Lamothe reshared this.
I am in urgent job search mode, so I'm gonna throw this out here and see if anything comes of it.
I am a #Canadian, fluent in both #English and #French. I have experience with several programming languages. My strongest proficiency is with #Haskell and #C. I also have a reasonable grasp of #HTML, #JavaScript, #SQL, #Python, #Lua, #Linux system administration, #bash scripting, #Perl, #AWK, some #Lisp (common, scheme, and emacs), and probably several others I've forgotten to mention.
I am not necessarily looking for something in tech. I just need something stable. I have done everything from software development, to customer support, to factory work, though my current circumstances make in-person work more difficult than remote work. I have been regarded as a hard worker in every job I have ever held.
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I am actively seeking clients, outsourcing opportunities, or partnerships, and I offer a 50/50 revenue-sharing model for any paid work you refer to me.
If you're interested in collaborating, feel free to reach out—let’s build something great together!
I've been an #Emacs user for like 20 years because there was one thing I needed to do back then that was made easier by elisp, and I just got used to using it. In all that time, I hardly ever tinkered much with the config, save a few minor tweaks it was pretty much stock. I had no strong feelings about Emacs in general, it was just the text editor I'd grown comfortable with.
I've recently been diving into #Lisp and poking around with my Emacs config, and after all these years, I think I'm starting to get the appeal. I am still a proponent of "use the tool that works for you", but I'm personally firmly on team Emacs now.
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Everyone who confuses correlation and causation ends up dying...
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Welp, it's #FountainPen cleaning and re-inking day. #Today I re-learned why I don't use shimmer inks in my #TWSBI Diamond 580. In fact, I usually reserve them exclusively for dip pens.
Time to meticulously clean out a clogged feed. It didn't even make it a paragraph.
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I've got a love/hate with shimmers and TWSBIs.
What ink were you using?
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
So, I've been taking another run at learning #CommonLisp. The last time I tried, I simply could not wrap my brain around macros. I'm reading the same book again, but this time am a more experienced programmer, and it all just clicked in my head.
I might actually end up enjoying #Lisp after all. I don't know if it'll dethrone #Haskell, but I'm starting to get why people like it.
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Don't start with macros. It doesn't make sense to until you really get the "vibes" of how it all goes together.
I've seen so much common lisp code out there that doesn't ever touch macros. They are super powerful, but you don't need them until you do.
Having Haskell down though, you are probably most of the way there.
@Karsten Johansson Tell that to the author of Practical Common Lisp.
That said, I get it now. It's so stupidly simple when it finally makes sense.
Also, yeah, learning Haskell in the interim helped a lot.
I like the book enough that I bought a physical copy of it.
Siebel (the author) said, back when Twitter was Twitter and everyone liked it just fine, that he was considering updating and adding a few chapters. afaik he hasn't, but it brought my hopes up quite a bit. 
If you want truly complicated, check out the book Let Over Lambda. It is mind blowing, but you'll come away from it with a whole new level of understanding.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
I finally got around to setting up a gopher hole. There's nothing there yet, but hopefully soon there will be.
gopher://sdf.org/1/users/jlamothe
(Apologies to anyone with a screen reader. There will be an accessible version.)
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
I recently got a #Sailor #Hokoro dip pen, and much to my chagrin have found that several of my #FountainPen inks do not work well in it. It's almost like the ink refuses to be picked up by the nib/feed.
Has anyone else encountered this? Is there a solution?
Edit: the paper also seems to be a factor
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Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
As to the ink- some of my fountain pen inks absolutely refuse to work with my various dip pen nibs, while other ftn pen inks of mine work fine and coat/cling nicely.
Adding about 1/5 volume of Gum Arabic does work to adapt a small vial of ftn pen ink for dip pens, but then don't use that ink for your ftn pens. The gum-treated inks tend to dry a bit shiny and make shimmer inks less shimmery... something to keep in mind. There are dip pen-specific inks for sale, of course.
For black waterproof ink that works really well right out of the bottle in both ftn pens and dip pens, I like my De Atramentis 'Archive' black ink. It's luxurious! That ink can also be used for drawing and then watercoloring over when dry, btw.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
It will soon be Autism awareness month, that wonderful time of the year when many autistics hit their foxholes screaming "incoming", or take to their bunkers and hide.
"But why?" I hear you ask. "Surely awareness is a good thing?"
Well, obviously yes, normally, but mostly, actually, no. Not in the way this normally pans out, anyway. Because this is the time of year when everything starts getting lit up blue and puzzle pieces start making their appearance and Autism Speaks articles rear their ugly, eugenic, heads. No matter how many times the vast bulk of the autism community explain that these symbols and the organisation that they are linked to, do not bloody speak for us and never sodding will.
Pity-me mothers parade their kids to showcase how terrible their lives are, or how there isn't enough help for their darling children. Which, whilst admittedly this is true for the kids, could be highlighted in better ways. Various celebrities and sports stars come out about the wonders of being diagnosed with autism and the huge change it has made in their pampered lives and puff pieces pop up everywhere about how someone succeeded because of their autistic superpower, or how they wouldn't be where they were now without it, or how someone's a hero, for standing up for their autistic friend. And editors across the land, slap themselves on their backs for such a wonderful job of awareness and here's to the next year and then silence once again falls.
OK, I may be slightly exaggerating this, but unfortunately not by as much as you might be thinking. So many times, even within the good articles and representation, there is the implicit message that only an official diagnosis can do this for you, which is a real kick in the teeth for everyone who has as much chance of getting one of those, as of winning the lottery. That this is something that is seen in us, rather than something that we can see ourselves. And all too often, even with the good stuff, it's always accompanied by the stock, what is autism? answers, from the internet. You know, the ones that just dryly quote the highlights of our disorder, in a way that none of us can actually recognise ourselves in and certainly don't help with others seeing us.
And this is the real problem with awareness month. It's all fine and dandy trying to increase awareness. But of what? Is it the problems and struggles, the difficulty of having autistic children, or being autistic in a world without support? The virtues of finally having your eyes opened to your autistic superpower? Of how the community and others could finally rally around you.
Or is it the different stories that finally allow others to see us, or even for us to finally see ourselves after decades in the dark. That allow the friend or neighbour, or workmate to maybe stop seeing you as the weird, or creepy, or even scary, person. But instead, someone who's just different, who sees and perhaps understands the world in a way that they don't. Not superpowered, or a burden, or broken in any way. Just yourself, just autistic. The stories that lead to acceptance and not just awareness.
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I'm glad they were able to get the help they needed and it just goes to show how different we all are.
This whole topic made me make a list with 31 question... I wanted to make a nice paper for them, but got distracted...
Anyhow here's the list. I'd be very happy if someone helped me to fix wording or such ...
Here's my ideas:
----------------------------
1. What is your current hobby(special interst)?
2. Tell us a thing you like about your autism? What do you like about yourself?
3. What is you favourite stim?
4. How would you explain autism to someone who never heard about this?
5. Let's invent new autism logo's, because we don't want to be puzzle pieces. Share your ideas and drawings!
6. What was an occasion where you felt able to unmask and be yourself around others?
7. What is a funny or curious fact you learned from pursing your hobbies (special Interests)?
8. Have you ever been praised for being honest?
9. What would your perfect day look like? Dreaming allowed, doesn't have to be realistic!
10. What's the thing you struggle with most being autistic in everyday life? Are there workarounds that help you? e.h. headphones against noise?
11. I want to make a link-list, so ... What websites do you recommend to learn about autism?
12. Are you late-diagnosed?
13. What is a skill you can do very well? Do you think, it is because you are autistic?
14. Let's make a image! What makes you happy? Drawing stick figures is perfectly fine!
15. Share a piece of advice about how people tic and why. What did life teach you?
16. As a child, what were your hobbies? What toys did you like to play with?
17. Sometimes one feels like one does not belong in with world... Would you like to meet aliens? What would you do, if you did? Alternatively, would you like to travel in space?
18. What tools and tricks help you get along in everyday life? Share your experience?
19. Do you have a favourite plush toy? Let's share cute images!
20. Who has treated you unfairly because of your autism? Let's write them an angry letter, (you don't have to send it...)
21. Who has been surprisingly accommodating to you and why? How did you feel about that?
22. What would your perfect vacation look like? Would you like to travel and see other places or stay at home?
23. What's the best thing about the actuallyautistic hashtag?
24. What kind of research would you like to see about autism? What things are you most curious about and/or what research would be most beneficial for you?
25. What helps you to regain energy?
26. Silly task: Are there foods you like or dislike to eat? Let's draw them with funny faces!
27. What do you do, when energy runs low? What strategies help you through the day?
28. Have you ever been abroad? How does being in a different culture compare to being autistic for you?
29. Do you have a favourite stim toy? Share an image and tell us how you obtained it!
30. What makes you happy about being autistic?
31. What would you like to share with your fellow neurodiverse fellows here on the fediverse? Feel free to post!
It usually goes without saying, but please be kind to each other in the comments, this should be a positive experience. Thanks.
Also, of course, only post and share what you are comfortable sharing with others online. Have fun! 😀
---------------------
Think that would be fun?
🙃 
😀
@marionline I love your idea! Let’s make this month OUR month and not their. Will answer to the questions later!
@adelinej 😆 Yes! Exactly that!
I think this should have a hashtag. We could use #AutismApril or something in combination with other hashtags like: #actuallyautistic or
#autismacceptancemonth to make the questions&answer toots searchable?
Looking forward to read your answer, and of course I'll write an answer to the questions as well. 😀
1. What is your current hobby (special interest)?
2. Tell us a thing you like about your autism? What do you like about yourself?
3. What is your favourite stim?
4. How would you explain autism to someone who never heard about it?
5. Let's invent new autism logos, because we don't want to be puzzle pieces. Share your ideas and drawings!
6. What was an occasion where you felt able to unmask and be yourself around others?
7. What is a funny or curious fact you learned from pursing your hobbies (special interests)?
8. Have you ever been praised for being honest?
9. What would your perfect day look like? Dreaming is allowed; it doesn't have to be realistic!
10. What's the thing your autism causes the most problems for you in everyday life? Are there workarounds that help you? e.g. headphones against noise?
11. I want to make a link-list, so: What websites do you recommend to learn about autism?
12. Are you late-diagnosed?
13. What is a skill you can do very well? Do you think, it is because you are autistic?
14. Let's make a image! What makes you happy? Drawing stick figures is perfectly fine!
15. Share a piece of advice about how people tic and why. What did you learn by coping with tics?
16. As a child, what were your hobbies? What toys did you like to play with?
17. Sometimes one feels like one does not belong in with world. Would you like to meet aliens? What would you do, if you did? Alternatively, would you like to travel in space?
18. What tools and tricks help you get along in everyday life? Please share your experience.
19. Do you have a favourite plush toy? Let's share cute images!
20. Who has treated you unfairly because of your autism? Let's write them an angry letter, (you don't have to send it).
21. Who has been surprisingly accommodating to you and why? How did you feel about that?
22. What would your perfect vacation look like? Would you like to travel and see other places or stay at home?
23. What's the best thing about the actuallyautistic hashtag?
24. What kind of research would you like to see about autism? What things are you most curious about and/or what research would be most beneficial for you?
25. What helps you regain energy?
26. Silly task: Are there foods you like or dislike to eat? Let's draw them with funny faces!
27. What do you do, when energy runs low? What strategies help you through the day?
28. Have you ever been abroad? How does being in a different culture compare to being autistic for you?
29. Do you have a favourite stim toy? Share an image and tell us how you obtained it!
30. What makes you happy about being autistic?
31. What would you like to share with your fellow neurodiverse fellows here on the fediverse? Feel free to post!
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Okay, this book got real weird real fast. I have so many questions, but I guess I'll just have to keep reading.
(comment on HEX)
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Just grabbed a recipe off of gopher. It was amazing. No dodging ads. No popups. No cookie settings. Just the recipe I wanted.
This only served to reinforce for me what trash the modern web is.
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"Invalid" Links
Whenever I see a post with an "invalid" (e.g.: gemini, gopher) link, there doesn't appear to be a way to see what the original link was short of hopping over to the post on the originating server. Is there some way I can get this information from my local server? Being able to copy it to clipboard so I can open it with an appropriate client would be nice.
Friendica Support reshared this.
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@Rainer "friendica" Sokoll I'm told Dillo does(?)
That said, I'd like to be able to at least copy the link to put it somewhere useful.
Friendica Support reshared this.
Ah, I see. Yes, that is not optimal.
next test:
someweirdprotocol://example.org
@beerw0lf @juliancday
This one works too:
But Kennedy is a good choice and comes with some useful tools.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
gemini://auragem.ddns.net/search/ is another one.
I prefer kennedy when it works, but it had its share of downtimes recently
Jonathan Lamothe reshared this.
We made burgers for dinner last night. Now the whole apartment still smells like burgers.
I suppose there are worse things it could smell like.
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Me: fumbles with phone
Phone: did you mean to pull down the notification shade?
Me: NOOOO!!!
Phone: Here are all of your notifications for you to peruse while listening to your ringtone becoming increasingly frantic!
Me: No, no, no! Just let me answer the phone!!!
<swipes up frantically>Phone: Yes, sir, I will let you scroll up to view more notifications! I know you certainly were not trying to dismiss the notification shade, considering how important that is at a time like this.
Me: NOOoOooOOooo!! Get away, let me answer the call! Ahhhhh!!!!
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Neighbour just gave us an earful because the car was parked "crooked". It was off by perhaps 5 degrees.
Seriously?
I moved it and gave her more space, but now I'm crowding out the car to my right.
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My partner wants to share a sewing pattern on the internet somewhere. She's not trying to sell it, just have it in a place where people can get it. Is there a thingiverse/printables type place for sewing stuff (that is also free to post things on, and is also not "run your own website")?
things that are not this:
- freesewing.org (neat, but does not appear to be a place intended for people to upload their own things)
- artisans.coop, etsy, other similar sites (these are storefronts, she literally just wants to share a file, the same thing 3d printing people do with thingiverse)
- a git forge (I... guess you *could* do that? is that a thing people do in practice?)
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Shout-out to @artcollisions and @bammerlaan for both pitching @freesewing much appreciated 😊
Seems like @emily is looking for a place to dump a PDF or something. That's not what FreeSewing does (my life would be so much easier if it was 😂 ) .
Emily, if your partner ever wants to get into parametric design, refer them to our contributor docs: freesewing.dev/
FreeSewing documentation for developers and contributors | FreeSewing
FreeSewing is an open source Javascript library for parametric sewing patternsfreesewing.dev
It's that time again: time to clean my #BaystateBlue #FountainPen. How many times do you think I'll have to run it through the ultrasonic 'till the water stops turning blue?
Time will tell.
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A reminder due to recent history erasures…
Grace Hopper has a posse.
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fedops 💙💛
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Cobol devs are definitely in demand.
I did Cobol in my studies. It's quirky but a fairly straightforward language to learn. It's not sexy but solid, and at least you won't be dealing with all the boilerplate Java or csharp junk.
Cobol is only half the deal though. In all likelihood you'll be working in a mainframe environment so may come into contact with Rexx JCL, CICS, and all the other good stuff as well. 😄
erin
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •I’m not an expert in COBOL but I am in the labour market. Look at 10 job postings for your profession. If 5 or more list COBOL as a requirement or an asset, I’d consider taking the time to learn.
ETA: I’d also look at long term prospects. Is it a new language that might become popularized? Is it an old language that is dying? Is there anything proprietary about the language that even if it died it’ll still be in demand in certain sectors?
silverwizard
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to silverwizard • •TinCoyote
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •I would suggest that putting the effort into learning COBOL isn't worth it.
There are high-paid jobs working in COBOL on legacy 'systems of record' devices that are still critical.
But every year, the number dwindles. AI translation of COBOL may also arise.
My suggestion is that there are also modern languages to learn that have a much better future for you and likely aren't as hard to learn.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to TinCoyote • •Shannon Prickett reshared this.
Digital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 🙄
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Watch @ellyxir learn COBOL:
youtube.com/watch?v=8skE5PTeOW…
And then rethink your choices!
(I only know how to do REXX on IBM mainframes. And it's not pretty.)
- YouTube
www.youtube.comJonathan Lamothe
in reply to Digital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 🙄 • •@Digital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 🙄 @Ellyse I watched the first video (on 2x speed) and while definitely looked painful, it didn't seem that bad.
It's certainly not something I'd be able to pick up right away, but I am twisted enough in the head just to try to do this for fun.
This also probably explains how I ended up in a cult for 12 years. 🙃
Bill Fellows
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Having worked adjacent to 4 different mainframes at this point in my career along with their "modernization" efforts. Reading COBOL, not terrible. Writing it, eh, probably not so bad but I've never done, only had to read and comprehend what it does. And there are non-MFs that provide implementation of COBOL so you can learn on your own time.
The devil is going to be understanding IBM systems "junk": CICS, DASD, DCLGEN, TSO, RACF etc
Judy Anderson
in reply to Bill Fellows • • •@billinkc
What he said. Mainframe basics are more important than COBOL, I'd say.
I work for a company that's doing "Mainframe Modernization" and as a result we have to understand the old crappy non-modern stuff in order to implement new stuff! (Currently my group isn't reimplementing anything based in Cobol. We do Db2 monitoring stuff.)
rocketsoftware.com
rocket.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/r…
(We have AI hype on the front page but really we're just programming. I guess some departments might be doing AI, but I think we're just scared we'll miss the bandwagon. So don't ignore us just for that.)
Rocket Software
Rocket SoftwareJonathan Lamothe likes this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Judy Anderson • •Bill Fellows
in reply to Judy Anderson • • •@nosrednayduj OMG super small world. One of the projects I was on dealt with model 204/m204. We ended up building a real time synchronization between m204 and SQL Server via messaging.
It was going to be a very cool way to modernize the client's data storage while they incrementally switched the front ends.
Pity literal debt caught up to them 💥
William B Peckham
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •